West of downtown, this residential area retains many substantial houses and conveys a sense of Denton’s prosperity around the turn of the twentieth century. The H. E. May House (c. 1878) at 609 W. Oak is one of the oldest houses in Denton. The left portion was built first, with a porch on the right side. When a gabled wing was added, the porch became the central hall. At number 722, the 1906 J. R. Christal House’s most unusual feature is the large arched opening on the second floor under the gable, with an inset balcony that extends over the entrance porch. J. R. Christal was president of Exchange National Bank.
James B. Davies designed the two-story, red brick Georgian Revival M. L. Martin House (1927; 811 W. Oak). Its five-bay central block with end chimneys is flanked by slightly lower recessed wings, and a four-columned stone portal in a Palladian motif frames the entrance. Behind the exuberant California Mission style porch and facade, added c. 1912 by a later owner, at number 819 is Annie and R. C. Scripture’s Italianate house. It was built in 1885, just after Scripture constructed his grocery business (DD2) downtown.
Austin architect C. H. Page designed the two-story Colonial Revival Robert and Mary Evers House (1903) at 1035 W. Oak. The front porch of three monumental Corinthian columns is offset to the right, with a one-story porch to the left, a scheme Page repeated elsewhere. Evers operated the family’s hardware business (DD4).
Nearby in the Denton County Historical Park at 317 W. Mulberry is the Bayless Selby House Museum. The house, built in 1884, was enlarged by Samuel Bayless in 1898 into a two-story Queen Anne with one-story wrap-around porches and elaborate gable ends. The Selby family owned the house from 1919 to 1970. It was donated to the county in 1998, relocated to this park, and opened in 2001 as a local history museum.